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I have been speaking with Kristina LS and she says that she has heard about the flooding in the UK and thought many others would like to know what has happened. I can't tell you much, but what I saw yesterday was pretty horrific.
Parts of Oxford and Gloucester are under feet of water (A Foot: That's about a third of a metre for the metric among us - not measured in units of toes). Rivers have burst their banks after approximately one months worth of rain fell in an hour.
Needless to say, the drainage systems cannot deal with this and whole villages have been cut off and the latest news is that although people aren't dying like they did a few weeks ago, electricity supplies are out and water is off in many areas due to the fact that water treatment plants have been flooded out, contaminating the water supply. At least one electricity sub-station has been flooded and as we know electricity and water don't mix, so it has been shut down at least temporarily, leaving hundreds of thousands with no power.
It's the worst I have even seen. I mean we've had floods before and sea/flood defenses have been improved, but I don't think anyone was expecting this.
We're lucky. Pen and I live on top of a hill. Flood water would have to rise by about 100 feet before we'd be in any trouble. Right now and fortunately, we just have a very soggy garden, but it's bugger-all compared to some others.
I suggest you look on the BBC website for more up-to-date news...
Nick B
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Been there
Much the same as we've had here in the south central part of the U.S. From Central Texas up through Oklahoma into Kansas. I've been in good shape, but just a few miles north of me hundreds of people were flooded out a few weeks ago. My brother in Oklahoma has had water in his house twice in the last month, and further north in Kansas flooding at an oil refinery caused the accidental discharge of 42,000 gallons of crude oil into the flood waters.
My sympathy goes out to all that have been affected by this, world-wide.
Karen J.
"Never ascribe to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity." Anonymous
"Life is not measured by the breaths you take, but by the moments that take your breath away.”
George Carlin
On the other hand
South Carolina is having its driest season in 20 years. Additionally and unusual is the cool temperatures. We've only had one day of over 95F (35C)instead of nearly a dozen which is normal for us. Cool temperatures normally means more rain for us but not this year. Meanwhile in Texas and the UK....
Keep dry, cool, and whatever else means comfort for you. :)
Hugs!
grover
Today, the monsoons abated
Today, the monsoons abated and the sun shone. Thankfully, we've had no flooding but it has been very bad up country in Gloucestershire and Oxford and around Worcestershire. Sadly, those in Oxford won't know for another two days how bad the flooding will be because it has been reckoned the Thames won't reach it's peak until sometime on thursday. There is more rain forecast for the rest of the week.
If this is, as they keep telling us, caused by global warming maybe we all need to think carefully about how we use carbon based fuels and do our bit to help reduce the effects as much as we can. If we don't, we can expect more of this from now on! (So get a bike and stop cows belching!).
Angharad.
Angharad
Rain? What rain?
For us too. It's almost like a summer's day here, but tomorrow is supposed to be lashing it down again...
I don't know what these weather people are doing, but it ain't good. Where's our bloody summer?
Nick B
Webbed Feet
I work in Worcester and live near Stratford, two areas in the thick of the flooding. I too live on top of a hill, so the house is fine. I had to work my way through a flood or two to get home on friday. It took me 4 1/2 hours instead of my usual 45 minutes.
I proved that ordinary cars can get through quite deep water without too much damage, and I was able to help a very nice lady (with a pair of red high heels to die for) to get out of trouble in her borrowed Land Rover. It would have been a tragedy to have damaged those shoes. Work was quite sparse on Monday with a number of people stuck in flooded towns.
My father is stranded by the river Thames in Oxfordshire. I think he is quite enjoying it. He has a Land Rover with a snorkel and access to a tractor and had been pulling people out trouble on friday. It's only about 40 miles away, but there is no way to get there at present - the roads that aren't flooded are closed with flood damage.
I have to go to Wales tomorrow. It's just the other side of the worst affected area. Can anyone lend me a boat?
Love Tara.
x
The strangest journeys start with a single step.
The strangest journeys start with a single step.
With all due respect
I proved that ordinary cars can get through quite deep water without too much damage,
Most drownings in the U.S. are due to people who discover what "too deep" is and are swept off the road. It takes less than two feet of water to float the average automobile, and the speed of flood waters is such that you are gone before you can do anything. Of course, once you lose sight of a road covered by rushing water, you have no way of knowing if the road is even still there.
Please don't try this again.
Karen J.
"Never ascribe to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity." Anonymous
"Life is not measured by the breaths you take, but by the moments that take your breath away.”
George Carlin
Thanks for your care
Thanks for your care Karen. Most of the flood water affecting travel was flash flooding, and I didn't drive into anything I couldn't see my way out of, or hadn't already seen another vehicle drive through. Where the river was in the road I turned back. I coach kayaking and have a healthy respect for moving water (although you wouldn't always think it!).
You are right, most of the flood related fatalities here are also motorists. I was just trying to get over a sense of the drama of the journey, but it could be read as encouraging people to drive into deeper and deeper water.
This kind of situation is getting all too frequent here in the part of our small Island that is furthest from the sea. I once had the ambition that if my town flooded I would be the person filmed paddling a kayak in the town centre. When my town did flood comprehensively, about ten years ago, my Kayak was in the club store on the riverside, under about five feet of water!
Tara
x
The strangest journeys start with a single step.
The strangest journeys start with a single step.